Friday, April 19, 2013

Welcome to the Machine

“Moravec” is the term generally used among the Strange Stars to refer to self-replicating robot sophonts. They are differentiated from “bots” (manufactured robots, typically low or nonsapient) and von Neumanns (self-replicating robots, low or nonsapient). The appellation comes from the surname of a historical Old Earth scientist-prophet. It apparently came into use through the more flowery “Children of Moravec”--a line from a protest song sang during smartmob events by moravec revolutionaries who regarded the extant term “robot” as a slur. At least, that’s the history as remembered by some moravecs; it all occurred millennia ago, and more than one dark age (major and minor) lies between then and now.

A moravec mercenary from a promotional vid

Today, moravecs are as varied as humanity’s biologic descendants. Many are humanoid in form (or android or gynoid) and inhabit worlds less tolerant of biological life. Others have forms reminiscent of arthopods and crawl over asteroids or comets, sometimes with their intelligences distributed over an entire swarm. Still others have spaceship-sized bodies: The warrior-poets of Eridanus are one militant order in this last group.

@Justin Davis - The top robot is from Foglio's D'Arc Tangent. You might remember the Dragon review back in the day. Anyway, I would imagine the self-replication varies. Some probably use "birthing facilities" that are essential factoris (or the future equivalent). Most would use nanofacture devices ("fabers") to essential 3D print an offspring. It may be they actually "grow" in some species: shedding old shells like insects and downloading into newer ones.

Their digital minds (except for the exotic molecular Babbage engine exception) are probably grown from psychoblasts in a manner similar to all non-clone infosapients, and grow and develop into adulthood.